Warren Bluhm's Blog, page 37
January 18, 2021
A Little Volume of Secrets
A decade ago The Secret was all the rage, with its Law of Attraction that if you decide you want something hard enough, the universe will shift in ways to make it so.
As I poked around I learned that this idea was not exactly new; in fact variations on the theme were being advanced a century ago and more.
“The aphorism, ‘As a man thinketh in his heart so is he,’ not only embraces the whole of a man’s being, but is so comprehensive as to reach out to every condition and circumstance of ...
January 17, 2021
We all could use a good laugh
The other day I stopped at an antique store and brought home a couple of old books, as I am wont to do (a fancy-pants phrase meaning “again”).
So I’ve been reading Will Rogers: Ambassador of Good Will, Prince of Wit and Wisdom by P.J. O’Brien, which I take is a “quickie biography” rolled out after Rogers’ death in a plane crash Aug. 15, 1935, since it bears a 1935 copyright date itself.
(Aside to writers who struggle to wring out their words a few at a time: Yep, here’s more proof that...
January 16, 2021
How can I help you
Not gonna win the lottery …
Not gonna have a ship that comes in outta nowhere …
No rich uncles to bail me out …
No precious gems buried under my backyard …
I guess I’m going to have to earn my keep …
same as millions who’ve gone before:
Do some good for other folks, and
Create something they can value or use.
To be of worth: The wise man said you can have anything you want in this life, if you’ll just help enough other people get what they want. It’s as simple, and as com...
January 15, 2021
The return of book-books
Once upon a time books and recordings were physical things you held in your hands. When you wanted to watch a movie at home, you took your copy of the film and slid it into a device that showed it to you.
Books were even easier. You picked them up and started reading.
Nowadays ebooks and streaming are all the rage. I have to admit they’re more convenient — shelves and shelves of storage space not required.
But recently we’ve all been seeing something I have always said and suspected...
January 14, 2021
Free people seek the light, always
I wish I could remember where I saw it, and I wish I had written it down, or saved it, or printed it out, but I don’t and I didn’t so …
You’ll just have to take my word for it. (You do remember when a person’s word was his/her bond, right?)
Some time back I read about a historian who had tracked civilization’s ups and downs in waves, and this person predicted that the next great downward wave, a downturn bordering on dark ages, would begin in 2020.
I think about that article lately.
...January 13, 2021
Glad … for a good laugh
An unexpected laugh is always on time.
I’ve been moving through Lucy Maud Montgomery’s delightful novels about Anne Shirley Cuthbert Blythe, starting with the best-known, Anne of Green Gables, and following our heroine as she grows to adulthood and now motherhood.
I bought the eight-pack of paperback novels and a six-pack of audiobooks via Audible — through trying to figure out the difference, I learned that Montgomery wrote six Anne books between 1908 and 1921 and 15 years later doubl...
January 12, 2021
Beside herself with gladness
The first print-on-demand copy of the new book arrived yesterday, and it turned out nicely if I say so myself. I put this photo of Willow on social media with the caption, “Yeah, yeah, I’m on the cover. I’m sleeping here.”
The book is 60 quick hits of encouragement, most of them first seen right here at this site. Amazon has exclusive rights to the ebook through March, but you can find the paperback wherever fine books are sold, like Barnes & Noble.
It’s so easy to get caught up in the...
January 11, 2021
Stay the course
Monday morning arrives full of energy, resolve, piss and vinegar.
Then, at the edge of consciousness, reality chips off a small piece of confidence — you start to think maybe it’s not so important to get such-and-such done by 9, as long as the main job is underway by 12, and it all can’t be done by 5, well, at least most of it can. But you have a nagging feeling it could have been done by 9.
Chip by chip they fall, and if enough fragments of confidence are chipped away, voila it’s Tues...
January 10, 2021
Holding these truths
Your happiness is independent of Washington.
You do understand that, right?
All the brouhaha and machinations and puffery and, yes, silliness, it has nothing to do with your everyday life. Even the terrible events of this past week didn’t interrupt what you were doing.
That’s what it means to be free.
And please make no mistake:
You’re free. Nothing is stopping you.
Go! Flex those arms and legs and start walking — run if you wish.
It’s your decision to walk, run, crawl, ...
January 9, 2021
A report from the playground
“when we create, we are creating the world. remember this, and commit.”
— Nayyirah Waheed
On Friday morning, I crossed the 10,000-word threshold on my novel tentatively called Jeep Thompson and the Lost Prince of Venus.
Those are as many words as the average Myke Phoenix novelette, and it’s already the longest stretch of fiction I’ve written since 2014, when I hunkered down and banged out 10 novelettes.
I am having a blast. You know all those writing gurus who say writing is fun once...
